238 



CONFEDERATE STATES. 



minds of the Southern people. It would be- 

 come an inexhaustible fountain to furnish bit- 

 terness between the North and the South. It 

 would separate the neutral mass of Southern 

 citizens from the Federal Government, and ren- 

 der them powerless against the new Govern- 

 ment over them. The gauntlet of hostilities 

 was thrown down by the Confederate Govern- 

 ment, and as quickly caught up by the Federal 

 Government. Instantly four of the States 

 above mentioned, Virginia, North Carolina, 

 Tennessee, and Arkansas, were precipitated out 

 of the Federal Union, and joined the Confeder- 

 acy. The Confederate Government then ap- 

 pealed to its citizens to bear witness to the 

 truth of the original charges of hostile designs 

 against them on the part of the Federal Admin- 

 istration asserting that the convictions of the 

 reality of these hostile designs had led to its 

 own organization, and demanded their undivi- 

 ded and hearty support. This coup d'etat on 

 the part of the Confederate Government was 

 immediately followed by a system of rigid 

 and arbitrary measures in the Confederate 

 States, to repress and extinguish every indica- 

 tion of sympathy for the Federal Union. The 

 most bitter denunciations were hurled against 

 the Northern people, and contempt cast upon 

 them as designing to accomplish a social and 

 political equality between the mass of the white 

 people and the negroes. 



Notwithstanding all these efforts, the Confed- 

 erate Government at the beginning of 1862 

 was still weak and insecure of the confidence 

 and honest support of a portion of its citizens. 

 The action of the Federal Government had 

 been such as to cause to some extent this with- 

 holding of confidence. When it accepted 

 hostilities with the South and became aware of 

 the advantages it thereby lost for reaching the 

 minds of the Southern people, it proclaimed 

 in the most solemn manner, by a nearly unani- 

 mous vote of Congress, " that in this national 

 emergency, Congress, banishing all feeling 

 of mere passion or resentment, will recol- 

 lect only its duty to the whole country ; that 

 this war is not prosecuted on our part in any 

 spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of 

 conquest or subjugation, nor for the purpose 

 of overthrowing or interfering with the rights 

 or established institutions of those States, but 

 to defend and maintain the supremacy of the 

 Constitution and all laws made in pursuance 

 thereof, and to preserve the Union, with all 

 the dignity, equality, and rights of the several 

 States, unimpaired; that as soon as these ob- 

 jects are accomplished the war ought to cease." 

 Its public action had thus far been generally 

 consistent with this declaration, and the effect 

 of it was to preserve the adhesion of the slave- 

 holding States of Delaware, Maryland, Ken- 

 tucky, and a majority in Missouri to the Federal 

 Union. At the same time it produced an un- 

 favorable effect upon secession. 



Other causes had operated against the suc- 

 cess of the Confederate States which may be 



briefly mentioned. The expectation that the 

 manufacturing necessities of England and 

 France would force them to a speedy recogni- 

 tion of the Confederacy and to an interference 

 with the Federal blockade, had proved entirely 

 groundless. The supply of cotton was as large 

 in Liverpool at the beginning of 1862 as at the 

 beginning of 1861, although the blockade of the 

 Southern ports had then existed more than 

 six months. No necessity for an interference 

 existed, and no disposition voluntarily to inter- 

 fere had been manifested anywhere. At the 

 courts of Europe the Confederate embassadors 

 were not noticed in their official character. 

 The Governments of those nations, grown 

 hoary during an existence of a thousand years, 

 stood far aloof from the youthful aspirant. 

 The Confederate people said : " They who have 

 managed our public affairs have not, with any 

 Government, any class, or any description of 

 people, succeeded in securing one reliable 

 friend ; and so insupportable has the position 

 of Commissioner to Europe become, that Mr. 

 Yancey is impatient for his recall." The news 

 of the capture of Messrs. Mason and Slidell 

 brought gold down at Richmond from thirty- 

 five to fifteen per cent, premium. Confidence 

 in the Confederate Government increased as 

 the prospect of a war between the United States 

 and England appeared. The release of these 

 men was a bitter disappointment, and under the 

 depression gold mounted rapidly agnin to an 

 exorbitant premium. The ardent adherents 

 of the Confederate Government, those most 

 deeply involved in the cause, exclaimed against 

 the North in their anger. " "Wonderful people ! 

 wonderful press! wonderful Congress! won- 

 derful Secretaries ! wonderful Yankeedom ! 

 Certainly the world never saw your like before. 

 Even Egypt, ' the basest of kingdoms,' is re- 

 spectable when compared to you." The hope 

 that the commercial enterprise of England 

 would spring at once to the enjoyment of the 

 high prices the blockade established, by sending 

 forward cargoes of arms, munitions, medicines, 

 and other stores most needed, was found like- 

 wise to be a delusion. The Governors of sev- 

 eral of the States were obliged to issue appeals 

 to the citizens to contribute their shot guns and 

 fowling pieces to arm the Confederate troops. 

 In Alabama an appropriation was made by the 

 Legislature to manufacture pikes with which to 

 arm the soldiers. It consisted of a keen two- 

 edged steel head, like a large bowie-knife blade, 

 nearly a foot and a half in length, with a sickle- 

 like hook, very sharp, bending back from near 

 the socket. This was intended for cutting the 

 bridles of cavalrymen, or pulling them off' their 

 horses, or catching hold of an enemy when 

 running away. The head was mounted on a 

 shaft of tough wood about eight feet long. In 

 the southwest Gen. Beauregard issued a pro- 

 clamation, in which he appealed to the people 

 to contribute brass and other metal to the Gov- 

 ernment to be moulded into cannon. Under 

 this call the bells of churches and plantations 



